


Second Chances

by Leodinia



Series: Welcome to the Mimi-verse [1]
Category: Sleeping Dogs (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crimes & Criminals, Drug Use, F/M, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leodinia/pseuds/Leodinia
Summary: How many times can you fuck up until you run out of second chances?In an alternate universe, Mimi Shen was born five years later than she was in Canon. The life of the Shen sibilings takes a drastically different path. Follow their story from Mimi's POV as they try to balance love, friendship, their family's wellbeing and their own morality as they try to find their place in the world.
Relationships: Mimi Shen/Sam Lin
Series: Welcome to the Mimi-verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712758





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Now we can all agree that the unseen character of Mimi Shen never got the love she deserved. This fic is the brainchild of a random brainstorming session between me and the wonderful  Kissun13. Her enthusiasm for this fandom is the main reason this fic exists at all! Thank you so much for creating this with me, developing it, inspiring me, adding your touch to it, giving me feedback to my drafts, and finally, helping me build the confidence to post this!
> 
> This has been lot of fun to write and I'm fully aware it gets cheesy at times, going for those Sleeping Dogs vibes! :D  
> I wanna do this right, so I will be really slow on updates. Hope y'all get a kick out of this!

_02.10.2010  
_  
“No, no, no, no!”  
Warmth trickled down her fingers and wrists. Clutching against the gash did little to stem the bleeding. The sounds of gurgling and rattled breathing rang in her ears and it would haunt her for the rest of her life.   
She tried again to apply more pressure, achieving nothing.   
“No, you can’t!” she yelled, voice cracking. An unstoppable flow of tears was running down her face. Flashlights hastily pointed at her made her face appear glistening as her tears reflected the beams.   
The clamoring of several voices filled the old warehouse, echoing off its walls. None of that noise got through to her. Neither did she acknowledge how her clothes were covered in blood that was not hers.   
An apologetic look was shot in her direction and it said more than words ever could.  
That look grew weaker with each passing second she spent desperately trying to think of something she could do, holding onto the bleeding wound, until the body beneath her stilled.   
Suddenly, she felt something grab her. It yanked her up and pulled her away.   
“No, you have to help him, no!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.   
Nobody listened to her. The back of a gloved hand slapped her across the cheek instead. She reeled from the force of the blow, vision swimming from tears and disorientation. It still wasn’t enough to shut her up.   
“You have to let me…” She didn’t get to finish as her hands were forced behind her back and she was shoved backward. Struggling against the hold was fruitless. When she didn’t stop, she felt herself being carried away.  
“No!” she cried helplessly, watching the body on the floor disappear in the distance.

_15.09.1997  
_  
Of course, the weather was shit. It was always typhoon season on Mimi Shen’s birthday.   
It had been raining cats and dogs for days on end now. Glistening wet asphalt relentlessly reflected the sea of lights and neon signs into everyone’s faces and lit up the night.   
It would have been quite a strain on the eyes to drive with the weather like this, but not for Bob. The taxi driver had years of experience navigating the chaos that was Hong Kong traffic. He felt like he’d seen everything in the decades he had this job.   
His face didn’t even flinch when he honked at the idiot that cut him off while crossing an intersection. The car’s speakers were blasting some catchy popular song on a much higher volume than he usually had it on.   
The girl riding shotgun audibly hummed along with the singer, then started to sing along after a while, swaying her head to the beat, making her low pigtails swing back and forth.   
Her friends on the back row chimed in and gratefully hit at least part of the notes correctly, keeping the distress for Bob’s ears to a minimum.   
They were in high spirits, garbling half the lyrics when they didn’t know the actual words. Not the girl in front, though. She actually killed it with a singing voice that sounded better than everything that would ever come out of that old piece of crap calling itself a radio.  
She was cute, Bob thought to himself, just the type he’d love to ask out to a karaoke bar if he were twenty years younger.   
The smooth features of her symmetrical face were pretty to look at, just shy of deserving to be called generic. Her true appeal laid elsewhere.   
Her smile was positively radiant, her good mood infectious. The observant, intelligent look in her almond-shaped eyes was enrapturing.  
“Thank you so much!” she chimed and gave Bob one of her gorgeous smiles as he pulled over at their destination.   
She even backed up her friendliness with a decent tip. He had come to expect less from teenagers that were usually already wasted at this hour.  
“Move your ass, Shen!” he could hear her friends shout from outside. They had already gotten out of the taxi and were eager to get started partying at Club Bam Bam, the iconic locale of choice if you wanted to get smashed in North Point district.   
He nodded politely, said his thanks and gave a wave as a goodbye.   
“I’m coming!” she shouted after them and giggled cheerfully.

“To our girl finally hitting the glorious 18!” Peggy called out.  
“Here, here!”  
The girls toasted and downed their shots immediately.  
“Whoo!” cried out Mandy, the smallest of the group, as she set down the shot glass on the counter with more force than necessary.  
Her petite body could barely handle more than a drop of alcohol, so she took her excitement where she got it. With her chatty and bubbly personality, there was never any shortage of that, anyway.  
“Whoa, there. We just got here!” Mimi commented and laughed.   
“Exactly! We gotta get this party rollin’ if birthday-girl won’t do it herself!”  
“Whatever you say,” she retorted and shook her head, smiling happily.  
“You get some more party-juice in your system, we’ll warm up the dance floor for ya!” Amber offered with a wink and pulled Mandy by the arm in the direction of the dancing area.   
“Well, in that case, you have no choice,” Peggy concluded and signaled the bartender for a drink.   
Mimi and her friend clinked the glasses of their cocktails and laughed their asses off watching their friends flail their arms around on the dance-floor like madwomen.  
The club was getting more packed by the minute so Peggy and Mimi took that as their cue to finish their drinks quickly to leave the rotunda-shaped bar and join the fray.   
Hours blended together while the four friends danced with each other, always snuggling up to one another to protect themselves from unwanted male attention.   
The kind of attention that was wanted, that was another story. Amber could dance like nobody’s business and gave strippers a run for their money. She was nonverbally flirting here and there but she didn’t stray too far from her friends. Yet.  
After a good amount of time spent on the dance-floor, it became clear that even a birthday entourage needed to refill its batteries from time to time. Mandy and Amber had gone to the bathroom to freshen up, while Peggy and Mimi settled into a cozy sofa corner, sipping on light drinks.   
Mimi was already tipsy at this point, the fun kind of tipsy that made everything easier and lighter. She felt happy and safe with her friends and couldn’t think of a better way to spend the night of her birthday.  
“You know, there’s some decent meat out here tonight,” Mandy burst into her thoughts and dropped herself on the couch, squeezing in between Mimi and Peggy. They promptly made room and brought their drinks to safety.  
“You find that out already?” Mimi retorted.  
“No, but you will,” Amber said and exchanged a glance with Peggy. With a shrug, she added, “She’ll find out anyway.”  
“Find out what now?”  
“Well,” Peggy explained, “I may or may not have told Winston to tell his friends that Mimi Shen’s 18th birthday party is going down in Club Bam Bam tonight and that they should bring everyone they know. We need a crowd!”  
“You mean, to shove a bunch of men my age into my face in order to not-so-subtly remind me that I’ve been single for years?”  
“Exactly!” Mandy did not give a single shit about people’s sensibilities. Mimi loved her for that.  
“Now, now,” Peggy soothed, “I know Wei’s the only man in your life, but…”  
“The age gap of five years makes it a bit awkward,” Amber finished her sentence with a wink.   
Mimi groaned and rolled her eyes. She took no shame in being a mother hen. Taking care of her little brother always came first, but he was turning 13 years old next month and had always been the independent type. She wondered if it may be time to think more of herself.  
“As if anyone could ever hold a candle to a night out dancing with you guys!” Mimi exclaimed and downed the rest of her drink. It drew girly giggles out of her friends.   
“I dunno,” Peggy mused, “Handsome guy with the top hat by the bar seems to be holding his own.”  
“He looks like a pimp,” Mandy blurted out.  
“Dude, he’s only 20,” Mimi said. It was as if she opened the box of Pandora with that comment. It made her friends scoot closer to her on the couch, three pair of eyebrows wiggling at her.   
“Good God, what is with you?” Mimi let out an exasperated laugh. “We live on the same block.” The Old Prosperity housing project was cramped as hell. It was actually hard not to meet your neighbors sooner or later. “I may have passed him in the hallway once or twice.”  
“Then what the hell are you waiting for?” Amber’s arm pointed in his direction in a way that was a little too apparent, and Mimi’s eyes met his. Recognizing her, he nodded and gave the hint of a smile. Damn, he really was a sight for sore eyes.   
“Will you guys knock it off, then?”   
“You just go and enjoy yourself!” Peggy instructed as the three of them pulled Mimi off the couch and started pushing her towards the bar. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll get home on our own.”  
“Hey, don’t you dare…”  
“Have fun!”  
Her friends smiled at her and waved her goodbye as she looked back at them, rolling her eyes.  
“What have I gotten myself into?” she whispered to herself and shook her head to reduce her irritation. This was just going to be a nice flirt, a couple shared minutes on the dance floor and tomorrow she’d go back to the struggle to help her family survive.   
“The gorgeous birthday girl graces me with her presence,” the young man said as she neared him with a polite smile on her lips. “What a nice surprise!”  
“Can I not say hi to my neighbor without an ulterior motive?” she retorted with a smirk, “Sam Lin, isn’t it?”  
“It is.” He gestured at the bartender and two shot glasses filled to the brim were positioned in front of them. He took one and held it out to Mimi. “Happy Birthday, Miss Shen!”  
“Please, I’ve turned 18, not 80. It’s Mimi. Cheers!”   
They exchanged casual smiles and emptied the glasses. It marked the start of several hours spent together. Sam was pleasant company and easy to make conversation with, as well as competent on the dance floor.   
Mimi still made sure her friends found their way into a taxi that would get them home. At that point, they were barely coherent enough to comment on the guy she’d scored. 

It was late, but Mimi felt good and Sam was so fun to be with. The night had a few more hours to spare, after all.   
“Always looking out for others,” he commented when she returned to the corner he had settled in, one arm casually propped up on the backrest, sipping on another drink. “When’s the last time you let loose?”  
“Went apeshit on my first day of school. That brand-new pencil case really got me going.”   
Sam threw his head back in a bellowing laugh. Mimi seized the opportunity to snatch his half-empty drink and took a sip.  
“No time like the present, is there?” With his hands free, he casually rummaged around in the pocket of his jeans until he procured a tiny plastic bag that held a single pill.   
“Most fun you’ll ever have,” he explained while inconspicuously lounging back on the sofa. He tapped the brim of his hat and held out the package to Mimi, wearing a devilishly handsome smile on his lips. “My birthday gift to you.”   
The offer sent her mind tangling itself in a knot. Kids around Old Prosperity were falling in with the wrong crowd all the time. She had sworn to herself to never let that happen to her family. But wasn’t this the entire point of going out for her birthday? Having fun? Not thinking about the wellbeing of anyone else for a change?  
She took the package and let the pill fall into her hand. Sam was her neighbor, he wouldn’t lie to her. He seemed to know what he was talking about. A single pill wouldn’t send her off the deep end.   
“Happy birthday to me!” She shrugged and proceeded to swallow the pill along with the rest of his drink.   
“Now that I’m shit-faced enough to even suggest this,” she went on and smiled brightly. “Do you do karaoke, by any chance?”


End file.
